Crisis
by TK Catsby
Summary: Oneshot. Written version of a scene from Serenity. It's River's turn. No pairings.


**A oneshot. That scene from Serenity, where Simon gets shot. Please keep in mind that I haven't actually seen the whole movie yet, just a bunch of random scenes. I thought this would be fun to write.**

**I don't own Firefly. If I did, there would be a hell of a lot more of it.**

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Simon had been in very few life-threatening situations. Sure, since he had joined the crew of Serenity, the number had grown to where he actually had to take a moment to count it out on his fingers (as opposed to simply having it memorized), but it was still, he was sure, much lower than that of any of the other crew members. There was the lone reaver attack, and that time in the bar, along with a few others, but Simon never had quite grown accustomed to it. Being in mortal danger, that is.

The rest of the crew knew it too. None of them ever really expected much out of the young doctor whenever the need for fighting arose, not because they thought he was useless, but because they knew he had much more important things to worry about in those situations.

Situations like the one they were in now, and more important things like the terrible wound that presently afflicted Kaylee's neck.

"I'm startin' to lose some feeling here..." Kaylee muttered, breathless.

Simon's worry for his friend was evident. "Lie still," he ordered in his no-nonsense-doctor-tone, "I'm gonna' give you something for the..." He trailed off, a bit confused, as he turned to find that he was severely lacking his medical bag. _The cargo bay... _He stood up. "My bag-"

If he was going to continue, the words were drowned out by the crack of a gun. Blinding pain exploded in Simon's stomach as the bullet buried itself deep within his flesh, throwing him back onto the cold, steel floor. He lay there for a moment, stunned, as if his brain needed a moment to catch up to the suddenness of the pain. White hands groped blindly for the wound, and were soon dyed crimson.

Inara was at his side in an instant. She gently pulled his hands away, feeling for the hole in the dimness of the corridor. Her hands were shaking as they sought out the wound.

Simon gasped in pain.

"Here," she muttered when she found it, guiding one of the doctor's hands, "pressure here."

"My... my bag..." Simon struggled to speak. Agony emanated from his midsection, nearly blocking everything else out, and blackness was already eating away at the corners of his vision. _Do not pass out. Do _not _pass out..._ he told himself, random facts and statistics about stomach wounds bouncing around inside his skull. "I need... a-adrenaline and a shot of calaphar... for Kaylee..."

Inara watched helplessly as he arched his back and squeezed his eyes shut from the pain.

"I... I can't..."

Blood seeped between her fingers.

"R-River?"

The reader leaned closer to her brother. Of course she had dropped to her knees beside him the moment she saw him fall.

Simon did his best to focus his glassy gaze on her. "River, I'm... I'm sorry."

"No!" River's voice cracked when she spoke, and she quickly shook her head before repeating, "No."

Darkness suddenly overcame all of them as the power gave out. Simon barely even seemed to notice. "I hate..." he started, voice strained, "I hate to leave..."

"You won't," River insisted, her voice holding a certain adamancy that the crew rarely heard.

Simon offered a half-smile, but it was quickly smothered by another wave of pain.

River continued, "You take care of me, Simon. You've always taken care of me." Then she stood, her eyes hard as she gazed at her wounded and bleeding brother. His pain-hazed eyes stared up at her, questioning.

"My turn."

She left them with those words. Took off running down the corridor. Zoe and Jayne barely even had time to register what was happening as she streaked past them. The door grew closer and closer, and then she was through it, surrounded by reavers, their grotesquely mutilated faces everywhere. Her body was on auto-pilot, kicking, spinning, and clawing. She fumbled for a moment with the doors' control panel. A small part of her remembered something about a bag, and she saw it, resting against the wall. Then, it was in her blood-stained hands and her feet were carrying her back towards the door. The door that was quickly closing...

_Gotta' get the bag to Simon... _

She almost made it. A scream was ripped from her throat as a reaver latched onto her leg, followed by another, and then another. In a last desperate attempt, she threw the bag through the small opening...

… and that was the last thing they saw of River before the cargo bay doors snapped shut. The crew was frozen for a moment, stunned by what they had just witnessed. River had been taken by the reavers... but it had taken almost a minute.

Inara was the first to move, probably because of the fact that Simon had started shivering. She frantically retrieved the medical bag-the bag that River had sacrificed herself for-and crouched over Simon's prone form. His eyes were closed.

"Simon."

His eyelids fluttered for a moment before he slowly slid them open, glassy, unfocused gaze wandering.

"Simon, I need you to tell me what to do," she muttered, hands nervously shifting through the contents of the medical bag.

After a moment of waiting for a reply, she looked up to see his eyes closed again. She swore, gently tapping his face. He didn't even stir. _Okay, Inara, calm down... _she told herself, _Stop the bleeding. _Her hands sought out the wood once again and she pressed down hard, a look of alarm flashing across her face at the amount of blood he was losing. They needed medical help. Now.

_Mal... please hurry... _

_

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_**... I kind of like it.  
**

**Reviews appreciated!**

**Update: Wooh! I finally saw the movie! Well, now I see that Simon is actually still conscious when Mal shows up. :P Whatever.  
**


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